Goucher College
EN-13: Community Stakeholder Engagement

Goucher College ensures community engagement through many of its social justice, environmental, and community-based learning initiatives on its campus, in nearby Towson, the Greater Baltimore area, and in Washington, DC.

We identify and engage various stakeholders by actively engaging in a variety of projects and programs for elementary and middle school children, Latino populations, at-risk youth, and environmentally conscious organizations. Goucher collaborates with more than 30 Baltimore-area schools and community organizations – environmental groups, safe houses, literacy programs, medical facilities, prisons, and others.

American Friends Service Committee Baltimore Child Abuse Center Baltimore City Public Schools Baltimore County Department of Social Services Baltimore County Public Schools BELL Baltimore Urban Debate League (BUDL) Catholic Charities of Baltimore Civic Works EBLO (Education Based Latino Outreach) Experience Corps Baltimore Esperanza Center (formerly the Hispanic Apostolate) Family Tree GiveCorps Goucher Prison Education Partnership Greater Homewood Community Corporation Habitat for Humanity (Sandtown-Winchester) Hampden Family Center House of Ruth Intersection Megaphone Project Our Daily Bread Hot Meal Program Playworks Baltimore Project PLASE Shriver Center Teach For America Turn Around Urban Alliance Wide Angle Youth Media Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Young Audiences/Arts for Learning of Maryland

Goucher College’s community outreach programming advances campus-community partnerships in many ways. Curricular connections to Baltimore City and County occur through community-based learning courses, which are represented in all disciplines and at all course levels. The college also sustains a variety of service activities that connect students to the community through volunteerism, internships and the Federal Work Study Program. • Opportunities for Goucher students to engage weekly as tutors and mentors with the Hampden Family Center (Baltimore City), Barclay Elementary/Middle School (Baltimore City Public Schools), 29th Street Community Center (Baltimore City, in partnership with Greater Homewood Community Corporation), or with the Goucher Prison Project in either the Baltimore County Detention Center or the Maryland Correctional Institution – Jessup. • ReCAP (Re-entering Citizens Assistance Program), in partnership with Patrick Allison House and Living Classrooms, allows Goucher students the opportunity to volunteer with individuals re-entering society after incarceration, assisting with job skill development and computer literacy. • Environmental initiatives with TALMAR Gardens and Horticultural Therapy Center (Baltimore County), an organic farm that serves individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities. Students also provide environmental and nutrition education with the Barclay Elementary/Middle School Gardening Club (Baltimore City Public School). • Single-event volunteer opportunities offered throughout the academic year with the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and other local initiatives. • Semester or year-long volunteer or internship opportunities with organizations such as Wide Angle Youth Media, Baltimore Tree Trust, Blue Water Baltimore, Baltimore Recreation and Parks, CASA de Maryland, Civic Works, Earl’s Place, Gallagher Services (Catholic Charities), Refugee Youth Project, Parks and People, The Intersection, Unite Here, or Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development. • The Student Leaders for Civic Action program provides a unique leadership opportunity for upperclassmen interested in an advanced volunteer role with one of the college’s signature service programs. This leadership program includes weekly support and ongoing education focused around social responsibility, ethics, and social justice. The on-campus cohort receives intensive training on best-practice campus-community partnerships, standards of practice, and reflection, and the students serve as Student Directors at each of our weekly volunteer sites. • The Futuro Latino Learning Center at Goucher College, which serves over 100 local immigrants weekly with several levels of ESL and computer literacy courses, Spanish-English conversation classes for adults, and a cultural enrichment program and bilingual storytelling program for children. There are 70 Goucher students who contribute leadership to the Center each semester. The program will continue its community garden this year, focusing on foods from different parts of Latin America. • Goucher built upon its longstanding commitment to attracting, supporting, and educating talented students regardless of need or background when the college began the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP) in 2012. Now, more than 60 students at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW) and the Maryland Correctional Institution - Jessup (MCIJ) are enrolled as Goucher College students. In courses at the two prisons, these students are held to the rigorous academic standards for which Goucher is known. Courses are taught on site by Goucher faculty, as well as by outstanding professors from nearby colleges and universities. Additionally, student volunteers from Goucher go out to the prisons on Monday and Wednesday nights to do a writing center and study hall. Since the program was launched, more than a hundred inmates express interest in the spots available each semester—even though they also must work a full work day before taking classes, studying, completing assignments, and participating in supplemental instruction. Goucher students at the prisons are remarkably dedicated to their studies, and there is overwhelming evidence that the best way to prevent recidivism is education. Fewer than 10% of people who participate in higher education in prison, even if they don’t earn a degree, will wind up back in jail. This compares with a national figure of 50%. The Goucher Prison Education Partnership builds on Goucher’s reputation as a leader in liberal arts education and practices the college's community principles of respect, inclusion, communication, service, social justice, and personal responsibility. The entire Goucher academic community is enhanced and strengthened by the inclusion of the talented, dedicated students at the two prisons. • Read-a-Story/Write-a-Story (RAS/WAS) and Enacta-Story are creative literacy programs offered for K-3 school children. Embedded in Barclay Elementary/Middle School’s after-school program, a Title I elementary school in Baltimore City, the program allows one-on-one partnering for reading books aloud and sharing stories. School children are then allowed a full range of expression, from theater to dance, to share their affectionate stories of cultural identity, family, and important social issues relevant to growing up in Baltimore City and navigating the world as young children. The program began in 2005 with a small group of students and faculty, and has proven to be one of our most successful and sustainable partnerships. Exemplifying Goucher’s dedication and commitment to the community, RAS/WAS and Enacta student leaders continually fine-tune these engaging literacy programs to meet one goal – encourage a love of literature. RAS/WAS serves more than 85 school children per semester, and utilizes the skills of over 100 student, faculty, and staff volunteers. • The Barclay Middle School Mentoring Project brings a small group of competitively selected seventh-grade students to Goucher College each week for an afternoon of mentoring. The Mentoring Project, started in 1998, has become an integral part of Goucher’s Community Service offerings. Goucher students, serving as mentors, design activities and mentor the students on a one-on-one basis to address topics such as character building, civic engagement, and conflict resolution. This year’s program has focused on the arts, and has included workshops in African drum and dance, photography, poetry, painting, and step dance. The program exposes participating middle-school students to college life and provides a mentoring relationship that fosters understanding, trust, and communication.